


The Children

by Kurama_Akiyama



Series: Din Djarin and his Jedi aliit [2]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Child Murder, Child slavery, Children murdering, Ritualistic Murder, Slavery, infant worship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29103870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurama_Akiyama/pseuds/Kurama_Akiyama
Summary: Yall. Read the tags. This Is Not Fluffy. These children are traumatized and this work shows you why.Ask me about their pasts in the comments and I'll answer.
Series: Din Djarin and his Jedi aliit [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109453
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

#  Kalif

“I tell you this story…” Every slave on Tatooine knew how this sentence would end, but Kalif was tired, so tired of telling people he saved their lives as he slipped his blade between their ribs. It had been his mother’s responsibility, and her mother’s before her, but he had no sisters so although he could never claim the mantle of grandmother, he was the grandmother in all but name. He held the ill child in his arms, experience telling him the younger boy would not survive, knowing without knowing his blood had turned to poison in his veins. The boy’s master had refused to heal him, and now he would never recover. Kalif’s blood boiled, but vengeance was not his calling. He placed a hand on the boy’s head, knowing he could not lie to this child. He slipped the hand-carved bone knife between the second and third ribs of Malesh Starreacher, holding his hand in his last moments as a slave. “...as I take your life.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lanksar is like a flying squirrel and yes, I made it up.

#  Lolima

“And now…” Lolima took a deep breath, peering over the edge of the platform. She jumped into the middle of the room, leaping further than seemed possible, and grabbed onto a long strip of bright purple cloth, wrapping it around her legs in an instant. She heard a ripple of unease from her spectators, but she felt their excitement at seeing her blue form rotate in the air. She sensed the moment they noticed there was no net, allowing herself a small drop to scare them. Lolima looked down at the floor, 35 feet below her tiny form, and unraveled the fabric around her legs. She plummeted through the air, giggling wildly at the horrified gasps of the audience. She closed her eyes as the ground approached her, feeling her fall slow. Her feet touched the ground gently and she finished her routine with a deep curtsey. “... the incredible Lanksar!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These two were found together, so you get to read them together.

#  Jindo and Pali

“It’s only a wish…” Jindo says, huddled up on the cold floor of the warehouse. He tells Pali that he dreams of being rescued, of a man that feels like sunlight and a man who feels like home. When she shivers, he wraps her up in his arms, and when she asks for him to tell her how they’re saved he complies. He tells her that, in his dream, there are bad men surrounding the warehouse, bad men who are afraid of the strange powers of the children, but men whose lust for money overwhelms their fear. He tells her how the men come storming in, but before they can try to catch the children before they can even approach, The Man Who Feels Like Home comes through the hole in the roof like an avenging angel, and the bad men quake, but The Man Who Feels Like Sunshine is the one to stop the men. He can tell Pali is thinking of all the other dreams he’s had, the ones that tell them where to get food, where to hide, when to run. He calls those wishes as well. She looks up at him, trusting. “...but all your wishes come true.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm making up planets, no I wont stop.
> 
> Yes, these are out of order, yes, I will rearrange them later.

#  Demira

“I have been born into the fire…” Demira recites, beginning the prayer she is not supposed to know. Her father, her poor father, the one his people call the traded prince, taught her the prayer under the cover of darkness, a prayer no self-respecting princess of Galim would know, but Demira is not a self-respecting princess, and her chief virtue is not demurity, no matter how much her mother tries to remold her. No no no, the princess is not demure, she is a tiny ball of fire, but it is fire no one recognizes, a fire she hides within the harsh language of her father’s people. She only knows the one prayer, but it is the only one she needs to know, the one that offers strength to those without opportunity to be weak. “...and I cannot be burned.


	5. Chapter 5

#  Ishpola

“If I must leave…” Ishpola’s mother says as she deposits her in the waiting arms of another woman, a woman with passage on a ship away from the dangers of Kalin, a woman who had a daughter, who has a ticket for her daughter, but whose daughter will never make it. Ishpola has been traded, the woman will save her life and her mother will ease the passing of the other girl. Ishpola regards death in the abstract way of a child, but she has never known violent death, only the gentle extinguishing of tiny lights, the soft way her mother saves them from suffering. She wants to ease suffering as her mother does, she knows that she doesn’t even need the little vials her mother keeps, she can just reach out and get rid of that flame, as simple as covering a candle and letting it burn through the oxygen. The other woman adjusts her grip, and her mother holds Ishpola’s little hands. “...I won’t leave you alone.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a song, guess to get a chocolate chip cookie.

#  Pav

“Our heroes…” Most cultures disavow the worship of infants. The father of Infant Pavinari Losgandar Falirat knows this, just as he knows he will never see his son again if he follows through with this ritual. The Ji’raa have one of the highest infant death rates for a reason. Still, he steps forward, dipping his son’s feet in the river, shuffling forward in the line with the other fathers. If his son fails the trials, he will be executed for his failure to produce. It won’t matter. Pav is the highlight of his life, what makes life worth living. He places his son in the woven reed basket, about to send him down the river, and he dispassionately watches other fathers be pushed into the pit for their failure. He watches the basket rush along the river with the eddies, watches it bob up and down, even sees it flip over. The priestess wades in and retrieves the basket, pulling his son out. She holds Pav up, and he looks down. He wishes his son wasn’t subjected to this cruel tradition. His head snaps up at the sound of an ear-splitting cry. His son has survived. “...Never die.”


End file.
